MOBILE, Ala. (October 13, 2011) - Senior Lucas Jovita is set to begin play at the 2011 USTA/ITA National Small College Championships, seeking to be the Tars' first champion in nearly three decades.

A native of Brasilia, Brazil and transfer from the University of South Florida, Jovita earned a spot in the ITA Championships by way of a victory at the ITA South Regional in September. He entered the event as the No. 2 seed and rolled in straight sets into the quarterfinals. He beat eighth-seeded Andrey Pozhidaev 6-1, 6-2 from West Florida and then downed 11^th-seeded Marco Mokrzycki of Barry 6-0, 6-4 to earn a spot in the finals.

Facing last season's Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year in Lynn's Willi Wolfer, Jovita took the first set 6-4 before Wolfer retired.  

Jovita came to Rollins for graduate shool with eligibility remaining from a very successful career at the University of South Florida. A native of Brazil, he played No. 1 in both singles and doubles since his freshman season, rising to No. 76 in the ITA Division I national rankings. His senior year he was named the BIG EAST co-Player of the Year after posting a 14-7 mark in dual matches.

The last Tar to advance to the ITA Small College National Championships in singles was John Goldfarb in 1993. Pat Emmet in 1988 is the only Rollins men's tennis player to win a national singles title. Rollins owns two national doubles titles as Matt Porter and Goran Sterijovski teamed to win it all in 2000 and the duo of Edwin Henrikson and Octavio De La Sobera captured the championship in 1995.

The USTA/ITA Small College National Championships is being hosted at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala. Oct. 13-16. The event is the only national championship event for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II and NAIA levels. The singles and doubles champions at each divisional level will then compete to become the overall "Super Bowl" champions. The "Super Bowl" champions earn wild cards into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the opportunity to win the culminating event held at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.